blood in milk--what should I do?

[JoannaCW]

My Alpine doe reshened about 7 weeks ago. This morning when I started to milk her I got a chunk of red blood in the pail first thing--a fairly solid little chunk. I thought I had just knocked a swollen mosquito out of her udder hair; I washed the milk dish and kept milking. The rest of the milk seemed fine. Tonight when I started to milk, on the same side, three little bits of dark, dry-looking blood came out. The rest of the milk seemed fine. Her udder isn't hot, tender or swollen, she doesn't seem in pain, her appetite etc. are good, there are not visible cuts on her udder. There are a lot of mosquitos and flies. Could a bug bite right on the teat orifice produce this effect? Should I be worried about diseases? Anything to look for? Anything I should do for her? Any advice much appreciated.

[Alice In TX/MO]

She's probably hitting peak and is very full, and her capillaries can pop. It's also possible she injured the teat just inside the orifice.

Keep an eye on it and the milk.

Give her some vitamin C to strengthen her capillaries. Chewable or powdered from the health food store.

[Lada]

Alice is right, probably just capillary damage. Don't be surprised if you see some brownish red stuff in the bottom of the milk jar after it's sat for a day or so. This happens to my best milker almost every year when she reaches peak production. It goes away on its own, but I would keep an eye on her.

[Laverne]

Also if she has small teats, milking too high can pinch delicate udder tissue and cause bleeding.

[Cheribelle]

My girl LOVES her "after milking" candy. 500 mg chewable vitamin C, she gets 2.

[JoannaCW]

Thank you all! Good to know I've been unduly alarmed. Will do the vitamin C.

She has large teats, so I think that isn't the issue, though we have had new milkers learning lately--I'll be more mindful.

Normally we drink raw milk. If any of you are normally raw milk drinkers, do you heat treat the milk if it's had blood in it?

[Lada]

If it's like what I described, then no. If some has settled out, I will pour it into a new container, just for aesthetic purposes.